monsterhighfandomcom-20200222-history
Monster High (website)
The Monster High websitelink went live on May 05, 2010. It contains biographies of all the characters, along with games, downloads, videos, and quizzes. History As one of the first components of the franchise made public, the Monster High website went live on May 05, 2010. With it came content like the first three webisodes and, the first seven profiles. All of these were accessible through the crooked navigation bar, from which four character animation files at a time of the seven primary characters popped up. These files could be clicked to get to the respective characters' profiles. For a short while, there was a coming soon message up announcing the website's future content. Specific mentions were made to three of the video games to be released Create your own Class Photo and Student ID card!, Registration, and Decorate Your Monster High Locker. These games exemplify the interactive nature the website attempted at first before it became unmanageable. For instance, Decorate Your Monster High Locker requires the player to input codes that have to be taken from merchandise purchases. The other two are themed to insert the player into the Monster High universe by creating respectively a student ID and a class schedule. Of the first six games on the website, only one is actually a game, while the rest are activities of various natures. Other early content fitting this immersion focus are the Explore Monster High section and the The Arts section. Towards the end of 2010, this system was let go of to create a website that was more about providing passive entertainment, with engagement being moved to specific events such as the doll elections and the promotions. The website was developed along this line of thinking until Late 2013, receiving a lot more sections and content, among which a four-banner slider to contain multiple announcements at once on the main page on February 14, 2012, but changing little in the meantime. There'll have been little prompting to do so, because in 2011 the website was declared the winner of the Best Toy & Hobby Rich Media Online Ad portion of the Internet Advertising Competition. On October 23, 2013, the website received a radical update that rebalanced the available passive and, engaged content as well as changed systems that were no longer functioning. Primarily, prior to October 23, the various versions of the Monster High website available to different countries were not aligned. This mostly came to expression with new webisodes uploaded, as each continent used its own schedule. Starting October 23, the various websites were redone to contain the same content at the same time. During this change, a lot of older content on the USAmerican website was removed, mostly because it was not relevant anymore. The games Make a Monster High Album & Activity Book, Bookmark Maker, and Decorate Your Monster High Locker were removed as were the sections Explore Monster High and Athletics. A third section, Students, was removed because the content was redistributed over the entire website in the form of an ever-present cast scrollable cast list. Related to this was the replacement of the crooked navigation bar with the animation files with a simpler, spiky navigation bar. Meanwhile, the content of the Freaky Fab 13 website was integrated in the Monster High website and engaged content was boosted with the introduction of the Gore-ientation section, which was added in the spirit of the 2013-launched We Are Monster High promotion. The Gore-ientation section is an introduction area for new users, which incorporates the older Create your own Class Photo and Student ID card! and Registration and instructs people how to set up their own profile using the Maul and bones - the in-website activity-earned currency. Much of the Gore-ientation section's design either comes from the same source as or was inspired by the design of the then-half year older . This design lasted until December 18, 2014. Where before the website had been playful and busy, the new look aimed for less content at once, more space for the content, and less background noise. The spiky navigation bar was replaced with a plain rectangular one, the main page slider enlarged to 50% of the content screen, and most links were made more simplistic and to the point. The main change with this update was the removal of the cast slider and the return of the Students section as the Characters section. The new Student section, however, came with a few categories to make going through the cast easier. Another notable change was the addition of links to all of the Monster High social media accounts, which were previously largely unmentioned on the Monster High website. One consistent downside throughout the series of big and small updates is that most adjustments of the navigation bar led to some pages becoming unmentioned. These pages could then either only be found through other pages, through the slider if the announcement related to the page, or were left only accessible if one new the address. Explore Monster High and Books are examples of sections which have become left out as a result. Features School spirit meter Present since the website's launch, the school spirit meter is a multi-page Florence flask filled with a liquid that turns from purple to green and contains floating eyeballs. The flask is filled up by watching videos, playing games, and completing other activities, with the reward being a four-symbol code. This code is to be used in Bookmark Maker, a game that has been removed on October 23, 2013. At the same time, the website introduced the bones currency system, which are acquired by the same means as the meter is filled. Ever since, the school spirit meter has been obsolete and remains only present on pages that escaped a conscious update. In the 2016 update, the feature was removed entirely. iCoffin A timeframe colleague of the school spirit meter, the iCoffin is one of the website's starter features that was removed on December 18, 2014. It was largely a slider of text messages from the various characters, but a few spoken messages were included as well. The text messages activated on their own, but the spoken messages required the user to accept the message first. The lineup of potential messages was updated around various special events, such as Draculaura's Sweet 1600 and the final characters to have messages included were Twyla and Gigi Grant in Mid 2013. Bones Bones were added on October 23, 2013 as part of the Gore-ientation-tied profile feature. Bones are the currency of the website, earned, as with the school spirit meter's content, by watching webisodes, playing games, and performing other activities. Bones can be spent in the Maul to acquire themes for the user's profile and apparel and haircuts for the user's avatar, a digital paperdoll. In 2015, the feature was removed entirely. Content Games The Games sectionlink of the website contains a periodically increasing amount of flash-based web games of various natures. Most games are released to coincide with a contextually related piece of fiction, such as Dawn of the Dance being added at the time Dawn of the Dance was active or Bewitched by the Beat coming out during the Casta Fierce event. Many of the early games aren't so much games as activities, often ones with relevance to the merchandise available at the time. For instance, Decorate Your Monster High Locker requires codes only found in the 'Basic' diaries and through the iCoffin. As such, it, along with Make a Monster High Album & Activity Book and Bookmark Maker, was removed when the website went through a big update on October 23, 2013. This big update also marks the restart of new web games, which had been absent for the entirety of 2013. There exist four more complex platform games that were released that in 2012. These four coincided in theme and date with the TV specials of that year. They have their own section on the website, known as the Catacombs. Videos The Videos sectionlink of the Monster High website is a mirror of the ''Monster High'' YouTube channel. While the YouTube channel is updated with a new webisode each Thursday, the website is updated each Friday. In theory, both places have all webisodes uploaded, but in practice it has happened that the update on the website was forgotten about or was a different one from the YouTube update. Also, prior to the aligning update of October 23, 2013, different continents occasionally had different webisodes uploaded on their respective versions of the website. In contrast to the YouTube channel, the Monster High website used to upload the TV specials too. However, shortly after the release of "Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?" on the website on February 19, 2012, both that TV special and "Fright On!" were removed. No new TV specials have been uploaded since, although trailers are still added to both channels. The one TV special remaining on the website is thus "New Ghoul @ School", which is also available on the YouTube channel. Books The Books section,link also known as the Library, contained a list of all books released in the Monster High franchise along with short descriptions of their content. Its last update was the release of Who's That Ghoulfriend?, ''and it was later removed entirely. Characters The Characters section,link previously known as the Students section, was a distinct area of the website from May 05, 2010 to October 23, 2013 and returned on December 18, 2014. It contains the primary official profiles, which are also published on the back of the characters' first deluxe doll releases and in the magazine. It has gone through five distinct stages since its inception. Originally, the section's hub was displayed as a group shot of all the characters, which at first had a hallway background before switching to a Creepateria one. The characters could be clicked to reach their respective profiles. There was also an alterantive route for the primary seven characters, as their profiles could additionally be reached by clicked their animation file atop the navigation bar. On January 10, 2012, however, the two new profiles uploaded brought the whole to 17~18 characters. The group shot display became no longer efficient and was therefore replaced with a Class Roster scroll. It showed only two columns of items against a parchment background, saving a lot of space. But at 30~31 characters, even the new layout lost its appeal due to the scroll length. On top of that, with the addition of Headless Headmistress Bloodgood and the future addition of the ''Frights, Camera, Action! - Hauntlywood characters, the terms "student" and "class roster" no longer sufficed. As such, October 23, 2013 saw another, bigger update. The Students section was removed in favor of a horizontal bar capable of displaying six characters at a time that was directly accessible from anywhere on the website. The visual presentation of the profiles was also changed, adding quotes and pins. During the first half of 2014, the profile art of each character was replaced with the stockphoto of the most relevant doll of theirs out at the time. The October update also got rid of two things: C.A. Cupid's profile, as she had switched franchises to Ever After High, and the alternative profile versions that previously were accessible if the page didn't load properly. On December 18, 2014, at 51~52 characters, the omnipresent character bar had become inefficient too and was removed only to be replaced with a renewed Characters section. The cast is presented in icons divided in five columns and there are five categories to choose from to search through the profiles: All, Original Ghouls, New, Ghouls, Mansters, and Frightmares. The Original Ghouls category, which contains the primary six female characters, is essentially superfluous because those six are displayed permanently above the columns. Following this, March 19, 2015 saw a small update that brough back some older features. The horizontal bar of student portraits linking to their profiles was returned, this time capable of displaying twelve characters at a time and only accessible from profile pages. Profiles came to have both art and a stockphoto present, which can be toggled between with buttons provided. The October 23 quotes were removed, though, and replaced with one quote per character permanently up. In March 2016, along with the sitewide reboot redesign, the character index design was massively changed: the square portraits were replaced with character vectors against parallelograms that changed color when hovered over, the original ghouls's horizontal art bar was changed into seperate character vectors against parallelograms that had a faux-highlighter streak appear underneath the character's name when hovered over, and the general character section's background changed to white with grey designs. In later 2016, Ghoulia was removed from the Original Ghouls category and section above the bar. Explore Monster High The Explore Monster High sectionlink displays a selection of Volume 1 screenshots and ten "Fast Facts" about Monster High. The section has been permanently removed on October 23, 2013. # Monster High has special evening classes for monsters who only come out at night. # MH has exchange monsters from 40 different countries and 5 dimensions. # Make sure you study for your S.A.T. (Scary Aptitude Test). # Watch out for piranhas in the school swimming pool. # Headmistress Bloodgood has her own parking stable for her (night)mare. # Making coffins in shop class are not only a requirement for vampire students, but extremely practical. # If you are blood-intolerant or have garlic allergies, please get a witch doctor's note for the creepateria. # Avoid the horrors of homework: write in your decomposition books every day and keep the moaning to a minimum. # Village Mob fire drills are done regularly. Please be prepared. # Being turned to stone by Deuce Gorgon is not a legitimate excuse for missing class. Registration The Registration sectionlink let users complete activities as if they're students at the school, such as filling out a student ID card, taking a quiz to find out which character they're most like and acquire a suitable schedule, and decorate their locker with stickers. Also promoted in the section was the cartoon series and the card game Monster Freakout, and there was a map of the campus available. Registration has been superseded by Gore-ientation on October 23, 2013. Gore-ientation The Gore-ientation section,link also known as We Are Monster High and About, is where new users are directed to once they've made an account. It was added during the big update of October 23, 2013 and further moved to prominence with the update on December 18, 2014. It is part of the 2013-launched We Are Monster High promotion and replaces the older Registration section. The section contains a letter of introduction by Headless Headmistress Bloodgood, instructions to website usage, the webisode "We are Monster High", and a downloadable file that lightly introduces the world of Monster High. Academics The Academics sectionlink, also known as the School, contains staff credentials for four of the staff members of Monster High, who each have their own printable activities sheets. Three of the staff credentials are the same ones as published in the Fearbook, while Where's is unique to the website. Though it is still accessible, the section has been largely abandoned since October 23, 2013 and none of its links but the staff files work anymore. Athletics The Athletics sectionlink is an area deleted on October 23, 2013. It depicted Monster High gym, Coach Igor and trophy case included, and featured links to various games. It also hosted a random daily game along with a leaderboard for the top scorers. However, already by Late 2011, it was no longer updated and remaind stuck on Scary Sun for the rest its existence. On its removal, the leaderboard was moved to the Games section. The Arts The Arts sectionlink of the Monster High website has a series of wallpapers and buddy icons up for download, along with a Monster High ringtone. It originally had the lyrics to the "Fright Song" and the song itself up, but on June 06, 2013, these were replaced by the lyrics to "We Are Monster High" and that song itself. Student Lounge The Student Lounge,link added on September 11, 2011, is a sub-hub of the website designed to look like a teen hangout. There are three versions of the Student Lounge from which one is picked at random when the page load, the difference between each being which characters are present in the lounge doing what. There are five links present in the area: * The TV links to the webisodes and trailers uploaded on the website from the most recent one down to the older ones. * The arcade machine links to the web games available from the most recent one down to the older ones. * The door links to the Student Store. * The magazine rack allows access to the digital Teen Scream magazines. These were supposed to be a regularly updated part of the website, but only two versions were ever released. Ever since October 23, 2013, the magazine on displays links to the Titan Magazines website to promote the ''Monster High'' magazine. * The radio used to link to On the Air with C.A. Cupid for the short time the section existed. Student Store The Student Storelink opened on November 21, 2012. It allows users to easily put together a wishlist of current ''Monster High'' merchandise and either print it or send it per e-mail. Maul The Maullink is a feature available since October 23, 2013 and only to those who create an account, and it's a program that allows members to shop and browse for clothing and other attire for their virtual paperdoll as well as profile decoration for the character it represents. The available outfits and decorations are mostly inspired by the franchise's characters. Extra Fearbook The Fearbook sectionlink of the Monster High website, added on May 05, 2011, lets users act as a fearbook editor, completing tasks like arranging a "My Memories" page and collecting autographs. The section also features a ballot box to vote for several "Most Likely"s. The Fearbook section effectively ran from May 13, a Friday the 13th, to Halloween and its updates coincided with the process of the storyline of Volume 2. The feature principally promoted the release of the Fearbook 2.0, but also covered the formal introduction of Abbey Bominable, Spectra Vondergeist, and Jackson Jekyll. Sweet 1600 The Sweet 1600 sectionlink went live on November 28, 2011 in support of the Sweet 1600 line. The section's main page features a Monster High Party Kit - a selection of prints one could turn to for throwing a Monster High-themed party. It also features four gates corresponding to the main four characters of the Sweet 1600 line, Draculaura, Frankie Stein, Clawdeen Wolf, and Clawd Wolf, which can be opened with codes that came with each of their dolls. Beyond each gate are four items of digital doll logs, namely a script, a diary, a Q & A, and an iCoffin with several Sweet 1600-related messages similar to the one present on the main page at that time. The codes are: * Draculaura - W9189 * Frankie Stein - W9190 * Clawdeen Wolf - W9191 * Clawd Wolf - W9192 Freaky Fab 13 Freaky Fab 13 was a website on its own from January 13, 2012 to March 13, 2013. At the latter date, the 2013 edition of Freaky Fab 13 kicked off and the feature was moved to and made a section of the main website.link Freaky Fab 13 was a monthly promotion of various events in the franchise in 2012 and a quarterly promotion in 2013. Catacombs The Catacombs sectionlink went live on February 12, 2012, the day the TV special "Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?" aired. The section is in support of the four TV specials that aired in 2012, featuring a platform game of three levels corresponding to each special. These platform games were not playable all at once but were gradually opened on each day the respective special aired. The section was the first to reveal the names of the four 2012 TV specials. The games are: * Scary-Sweet Memories ("Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?") * Fintastic Rescue ("Escape From Skull Shores") * Phantom Roller ("Friday Night Frights") * Trick or Trance ("Ghouls Rule") Don't Fear The Year The Don't Fear The Year sectionlink went live on December 13, 2012 and was updated daily until January 01, 2013. The section consists of three components. The first is the Boo Year's Eve Countdown Calendar, which displayed a new sheet every day containing the 2013 resolutions of one of the Monster High students. The second was an announcement of the webisode "Boo Year's Eve", which was to be released after midnight on December 31. The final component was a PDF file that visitors could print to write down their own resolutions for 2013. This file also contained the nineteen questions contained in the calendar. On the Air with C.A. Cupid On the Air with C.A. Cupidlink is a section added on the 14th of February in 2013 and taken down on October 23, 2013. It featured Q&A transcripts of C.A. Cupid's radio show. The section was a subtle way to introduce Ever After High to the Monster High fanbase and announce Cupid's transfer to Ever After High. A Night in Scare-adise: Prom 2014 The Monster High Prom sectionlink went live on May 05, 2014 and received an update about once per two days until June 13, 2014, which is a Friday the 13th. It was removed within a month thereafter and has not been reuploaded since. The section ties in with the Zombie Shake doll line and narrates the staff's and students' preparation of the year's prom. The content used to tell the story includes weekly polls, chats, and announcements. Behind the Screams Behind the Screamslink was launched on January 22, 2015 to promote the Monster Exchange doll line. It is a blog where Headless Headmistress Bloodgood and the students participating in the exchange program write about their experiences. Category:Franchise Category:Mattel Category:Monster High website